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Welcome! Artfully Musing is a blog dedicated to sharing art and the techniques and products used. I'll be showcasing collage, altered and mixed media art as well as miniature. I hope you'll check back often and are inspired. Thanks for visiting! Laura

Saturday, September 24, 2016

Edgar Allan Poe & Marie Antoinette Tombs

These tombs are my memoriam to Edgar Allan Poe and Marie Antoinette; both gothic, one darker and serious and the other humorous.

With Poe, I featured images of people and animals from his literature. For Marie, I decided to feature her head, which under the circumstances I thought was appropriate. I envisioned her with gothic makeup and a crazy hairdo made from cotton balls.

The centerpieces for both of the tombs are Chipboard Tombs.

In the post below, you will find construction details for both tombs.

EDGAR ALLAN POE TOMB - DETAILS

The center section of the Poe tomb is made from a Triangular Greek Pediment Tomband covered with with Latin Stone scrapbook paper. The pediment section is sprayed with stone paint.

I dressed up the top with tea dyed cheesecloth and flanking each side of the pediment are angels from the Facade Architecture Collage Sheet. The picture of Poe comes from the Just Poe Collage Sheet and the frame is from the Ghostmore Image Set. At the bottom is a fence made from a Chipboard Gothic Border Trim and painted black. Behind the fence is a piece of Baroque Black Dresden.

The stone texture that you see on both the Poe and Marie tombs as well as on the tombstones is Rust-oleum Stone Accents spray paint. It is such an easy way to add stone texture. I used the colors Grey Stone and Bleached Stone.

To the base, I added a candelabra from my stash that holds dripping candles. A hand from a set of Milagros Relic & Artifacts Casts holds red roses and a Die-Cut Black Cat stands on the fence touching the picture of Poe.

The Annabelle Lee and Lenore tombstones flanking the tomb are Miniature Chipboard Reliquaries.

I sprayed both of the tombstones with stone paint. The image of Annabelle Lee is from the Romantic Victorian Women Collage Sheet and the embellishments are a Sparrows Compass Brass Link and a Bronze Cherub Pendant.

Behind the tombstone are two owls from the Ghostmore Image Set sitting on a 8" Creepy Chipboard Tree. The tree is attached to the back of the tomb and the tombstone is attached to the tree.

I dripped black wax over the Lenore tombstone and glued some chipboard from my stash to the front and added red beads (to serve as berries). The image of Lenore comes from the Gothics Collage Sheet.

The tomb is attached to the fence. A Creepy 5" Chipboard Tree is attached to the back of the tomb and again you see an owl sitting in the tree.

In order to make the tombs stand, I used a lid of box and a piece of chipboard cut smaller than the tomb, both of which are covered with the paper.

MARIE ANTOINETTE TOMB - DETAILS

The center section of the Marie tomb is made from a Roman Pediment Tomb.

In the picture below you can see the various components of the Marie tomb. The back is covered with Sandstone scrapbook paper. The Chipboard Columns and pieces of the pediment are coated with the stone spray. Notice that I used both colors of stone spray to add depth and interest. In the pediment opening, I used a pediment image from the Ghostmore Image Sets.

The image of Marie I used is from the Off With Her Head Collage Sheet (in the upper left corner). I gave her a gothic makeup job and hairdo.

Her hair is made from cotton. I pulled cotton balls apart in long sections. Next, I glued the sections to her paper hair until I felt like it was full enough. It would be easy to shape it into a pouf or any other style you might like.

The crown is made by slightly bending and gluing together two pieces filigree from my stash, attaching fleur de lye and purple beads to the top.

Her head is held by a hand from a set of Milagros Relic & Artifacts Casts. I filed a slit in the hand to create a place to attach the head (the collar slips into the slit and is glued in place).

I wrapped Black Stitched Leaf Ribbon around the columns and attached Black Dresden to the base before I glued the columns in place.

To dye the cheesecloth, I made a bath of Purple Twilight Alcohol Ink and Alcohol Blending Solution. The Blending Solution dilutes the ink making it lighter. I made just enough of the mixture to cover the cloth.

I soaked the cloth in the bath for a few minutes, lifted it out and let it dry. Once dry, I wrapped it around the frame.

At the top of the pediment I added a Gargoyle Pendant and Griffin Architectural Finials. The griffin finials are painted with stone paint to add texture then painted with black acrylic paint.

On the sides of the tomb I used a Spiderweb Gate painted black and rubbed with gold. To dress up the columns on the gate, I added gold Dresden, a piece of filigree bent in the shape of a bowl and a 10mm Clear Glass Marble.